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How Much Should I Spend on My Website?
by John E Adams
More Home Busines Articles
Published on this site: March 6th, 2009 - See
more articles from this month
How do you plan to use your website?
Some business owners plan to use their website to acquire
customers or generate leads and expect it to act as a 24/7 sales
person. Other business owners plan to use their website as more
of a secondary marketing tool, a place to send prospects after
they have made contact through a face-to-face meeting or a phone
call. Either way, your website is going to account for a
percentage of your annual budget.
If you plan to use your site as a secondary marketing tool, then
you may only need a static website. Static websites are usually
under 15 pages and do not include a content management system. It
is like an online brochure. You will want it to have a polished,
professional look because it does represent your business, but
you may not need any interactive features. It is simply a place
prospective customers can go to learn more about your business
and decide if they wish to contact you. Make sure that the
graphics and colors are impressive and that you have the right
look and feel because your site could be the determining factor
in your prospective customer deciding to go with you or not.
If you plan to use your website as a primary marketing tool, then
obviously you will want to allocate a greater percentage of your
advertising budget towards it. You will probably want some
interactive features such as a contact form or a search feature
which will make the cost of your site go up, but if you plan to
use your site as a marketing tool, you must invest the money to
get it right, otherwise you will convert very few visitors into
customers.
How much to spend on marketing?
You will also want to allocate a portion of your budget for
marketing. Many business owners are still under the impression
that simply building a website is enough to start generating
business online. This is not true unless you happen to be in an
extremely niche market with few competitors. For everyone else,
showing up high in the search engine results requires an
investment of time and money.
It is important when starting out, to properly allocate your web
design and marketing budget. If for example, you have a $10,000
budget for the first year, you don't want to spend $1,000 on
your website and the other $9,000 on advertising because you will
probably have a low conversion rate. If you're going to spend
money sending people to your website, you want it to represent
your business well and for that, you won't want to scrimp on the
design. On the other hand, you cannot spend all your money on the
design and not have any left for marketing.
How to divide up your online advertising budget
A good way to determine how to carve up your web design and
advertising budget is based on how long you've been in business
and how you're planning to use your site.
If you are an established business looking for a website
redesign, then you will want to spend more on the marketing than
on the website, approximately a 70/30 split. If it's a new
business, you will want it to be more evenly split, approximately
50/50. For a business that relies solely on the website for its
income, such as an ecommerce site with no brick and mortar
storefront, an a little less on the marketing and more on the
website. Approximately a 40/60 split would be reasonable.
Choosing a designer
When you contact a designer to create your website, make sure
they take the time to sit down with you and get to know you and
your business. You will want someone who understands how you plan
to use your website. After all, you don't need an expensive
custom-designed site with a plethora of interactive features if
you're planning to use your site as an online brochure. If you
plan to use your site as a primary marketing tool, then it needs
to have all the necessary features to convert prospects into
customers.
Kevin Kielty: Writes for Internet Marketing Advantage in
Raleigh. Web design is his area of expertise. Internet
Marketing Advantage specializes in website design
Raleigh. http://raleighseocompany.net
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